CNA—The bells of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris rang for the first time since April 2019, when a devastating fire broke out in the spire and roof of the historic French church. Notre-Dame of Paris passed the major milestone today at about 10:30 a.m., just one month away from its highly anticipated reopening on Dec.…
ACI Africa, CNA—A U.K.-based human rights foundation condemned the forced conversion of Christians to Islam in Sudan following the arbitrary arrest of 12 Christian men by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) military intelligence unit. The 12 men were part of a group of 26, most of whom are Christians and were reportedly detained at a…
CNA—New Yorkers on Oct. 15, 2024—the Feast of the great Carmelite reformer, mystic and doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila—gathered in droves within the vaulted ceilings of one of New York City’s most famous churches, St. Patrick Cathedral, many from New York City and others driving in from nearby Long Island, New Jersey,…
VN—Amid the recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, Maronite Catholic Bishops discuss how the violence has led to thousands of people being forced to leave their homes. The Maronite bishops have expressed their “sorrow in the face of the horror of the disaster” in Lebanon following Israel’s recent attacks on the country, which have caused…
CNA—A Monday, Sept 23, 2024, ruling from a federal judge in North Dakota shields thousands of Catholic parishes and employers — for now — from new regulations mandating time off for abortions and fertility treatments as part of federal legislation originally designed to help mothers. At issue were new regulations issued by President Joe Biden’s…
CNA—Legendary Football Super Bowl-winning Hall of Fame Coach asks Harris: What ‘faith’ allows for abortion? Tony Dungy, a Super Bowl-winning Hall of Fame football coach and a pro-life evangelical Christian, responded on social media to a pro-abortion statement from Vice President Kamala Harris in which Harris said: “One does not have to abandon their faith…
CNA—A council of Knights of Columbus in Virginia has received a religious freedom award after it won a dispute earlier this year with the government over celebrating Mass at a federal cemetery. The First Liberty Institute awarded the Knights of Columbus Council 694 its Philip B. Onderdonk Jr. Religious Liberty Award in recognition of the…
CNA—August 9, 2023, marks the 78th anniversary of the second atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Japan, this time on Nagasaki, a city with a rich history of Christian martyrs from the 16th and 17th centuries. On the day “Fat Man,” the name of the bomb, was dropped, the small Japanese Catholic community …
CNA—Sister Agnes Sasagawa, a Japanese nun whose purported visions of the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Akita included stark warnings for humanity and instructions to pray the rosary and repent of sin, died Aug. 15 at age 93. A parish priest in Akita, Japan, confirmed to CNA by phone that Sasagawa…
Dr. Päivi Räsänen is a medical doctor who now has been a Member of the Finnish Parliament since 1995. From 2004 to 2015, Räsänen was the chairwoman of the Finnish Christian Democrats and served for four years as the Minister of the Interior of Finland between 2011-2015. As the Minister of the Interior, Räsänen was…
VN—Aug 6, 2024—Ten years after so-called Islamic State massacred Christians and Yazidis, the Patriarch of Baghdad tells Vatican News that suffering unites all Iraqis: “We are all responsible for each other, and when we die, God will not ask if I am a Christian or a Muslim, but ‘What have you done for your brother?’”…
CNA —Father Jason Nioka was ordained a Catholic priest one month ago, and his very first assignment is to spend his summer in Paris in charge of the Catholic contingent of Olympic chaplains — the largest group of chaplains at the Olympics — made up of 40 Catholic priests, religious, and lay faithful. In an…
CNA—The drag-queen-led parody of the Last Supper featured during the opening ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games sparked outrage around the world and has led C Spire, a U.S. mobile phone and internet company, to make the decision to pull all its advertising from the Olympics. “We were shocked by the mockery of the…
CNA—In a strongly worded open letter, Catholic cardinals and bishops from around the world are calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to “repudiate” and “apologize” for the “intentionally hateful mockery” of the Last Supper during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. In addition, “the undersigned commit to a day of prayer and…
CNA—As part of its Memorandum of Understanding agreement (MoU) and partnership with the Sovereign Order of Malta, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has successfully sent a second aid delivery to the people of northern Gaza. In a July 24 press release, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem — a diocese that includes Jordan, Cyprus, Palestine, and…
CNA—Relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Juan Diego, and five other saints will be available for veneration each day of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis next week. Catholics attending the congress will have the rare opportunity to pray with the relics of Sts. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Manuel González García, Paschal Baylon, Junípero Serra, Juan…
CNA—The Supreme Court on Friday, June 28, 2024, overturned a 40-year-old decision that gave unelected federal agencies considerable power to interpret federal law, with significant implications for religious freedom. The high court in its Friday decision in the case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo overturned the 1984 ruling in Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council,…
CNA—For more than a year, the people of Sudan — one of the largest countries in Africa — have suffered under a brutal civil war that has reduced the capital, Khartoum, to a war zone. Amid the chaos and a complex set of competing political interests, children and the poor have been hit hardest. Just…
CNA—A Christian employee has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Fire Department in which he alleges he was subjected to “retaliation” and “religious discrimination” for refusing to raise a well-known Pride theme flag while he was working. A veteran county employee, Captain Jeffrey Little alleges that the fire department violated his religious freedom…
“Spiritual freedom is the root of political liberty,” penned one our U.S. Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine, regarding religious freedom. “As the union between spiritual freedom and political liberty seems nearly inseparable, it is our duty to defend both.” Profound words indeed. CNA—The United States Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF) named five new commissioners on Friday, including three…
